Couillard, now retired from the Tulare County bench, has written a book about the eight-year quest to put Stone behind bars for the 1979 robbery and murder of Visalia coin shop owner Alex Moyer.

"Murder in Visalia: The Coin Dealer Killer," out now, recounts all the twists and turns of the case, which included two jury trials, a surprising appellate court ruling, jurisdictional wrangling and, decades later, a shocking development from a critical witness in the case.

The murder

In October 1979, Moyer's lifeless body was found by neighbors. Eventually, detectives zeroed in on a suspect: Stone. The Fresno man was suspected in a similar robbery and murder of a Clovis coin shop owner months earlier.

The case was one of Couillard's first homicide prosecutions in Tulare County. He started his legal career in 1968 when he landed a job as a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County.

In 1980, he moved to Visalia and served as a deputy prosecutor in the Tulare County District Attorney's Office, where he was handed the Moyer murder case.

The victim Alex Moyer.(Photo: Submitted)

The Moyer murder case hit Couillard close to home when he discovered the coin shop owner graduated from the same Downey (California) high school he did eight years prior.

"It was a real shock for me," Couillard said. "It's more evidence how small the world really is."

Legal journey

In the book, Couillard recounts the painstaking investigation and legal wrangling that led up to the Tulare County trial, conviction, an over-turned verdict and then the successful re-trial of Stone, a courtroom marathon that started in 1980 and only ended in 1986.

In one bizarre twist, Stone was suspected of leaving another corpse in the trunk of a car outside of the Clovis Police Department. (Stone was never convicted of that crime, a development that still irks Couillard.)

A year after winning the Stone re-trial, Couillard was appointed to the Tulare County Superior Court in 1987, a position he held until 2007 when he retired.

Ronn Couillard was honored by the Tulare County Trial Lawyers Association as judge of the year in 1989,(Photo: Ron Holman)

The strangest part of the case, though, came in 2010 when Couillard, then still on the bench as a fill-in jurist, was contacted by Tulare County Sherrif Bill Witman. Stone's ex-wife, a reluctant witness in the two trials, wanted to meet with both of them.

At the meeting, the woman shared how scared she was of Stone and was afraid the convicted murderer would be paroled.

"She came to the office to asked us to oppose any parole, which is rare when it comes to the family of a convicted person," Couillard said. "We told her that she didn't have to ask. We were already preparing to argue against his parole."

It turned out the issue became moot when Stone died of natural causes — a heart attack Couillard recalls — in prison a few months later.

"He was always kind of a chubby guy," Couillard said. "I guess he should have exercised a little more when he was in prison."

Reflections

Besides the Moyer murder case being a compelling story, Couillard hopes people will get a glimpse at what it takes to put a killer behind bars after reading his book.

First, there are the countless hours of work detectives have to do to get all the facts in the case. Then the prosecutors — if they are sure the accused is guilty — have to shape those facts into a narrative that will convince 12 jurors to return a guilty plea beyond a reasonable doubt.

"It's not like 'Law & Order' where a case is over in one hour," Couillard said. "It truly is a group effort that in many cases goes for years."

And then there's the human element of any crime: The victim's family and friends. Couillard became close with Moyer's elderly parents during the trial.

"They were lovely people," he said. "You just want to bring justice to them for their loss."

Getting the book

"Murder in Visalia: The Visalia Coin Dealer" is available at Amazon.com and other online book dealers. A book signing is being organized at Costco, but details are still developing. You can also order the book through The History Press.